Earlier this month, we reported that Samsung would soon be bringing a version of its Galaxy S4 with faster data speeds to the market, and here it is. The company has officially announced a Galaxy S4 variant with LTE-Advanced data capabilities. The Galaxy S4 LTE-A will offer data speeds up to two times as fast as normal LTE. The device will be available in South Korea sometime this summer, as it is one of the few countries with LTE-Advanced networks in place. United States carriers plan to build up the infrastructure this year.

Samsung’s introduction of the GALAXY S4 LTE-A, the world’s first LTE Advanced-capable smartphone, is the latest expression of the company’s efforts in leading LTE technology. Samsung’s commitment to driving LTE adoption achieved its first milestone in 2010 with the launch of the Craft, the world’s first LTE feature phone, and continued in 2011 with the delivery of the Indulge, the world’s first LTE smartphone. In the last year, Samsung has also pioneered efforts to bring VoLTE network capabilities to users with the launch of the GALAXY S III LTE.

Design-wise, the Galaxy S4 LTE-A is virtually identical to the other models, but on the inside the device is much more powerful than other variants. The new Galaxy S4 variant is powered by a 2.3GHz quad-core Snapdragon 800 processor, which should offer better performance than both the Exynos and Snapdragon S4 Pro variants.